Freak and Geek (Super Sons #13 Comics Review)

After a demented version of Tim Drake from an alternate future tried to kill Jon, Superman and Batman are worried about the Super Sons. Their solution: send Damian to school in Metropolis with Jon!

What Happened:

A new day is beginning at The West-Reeve School, and Jon is playing kickball with his friends. He leaves to go meet Damian as he arrives at the school by helicopter, piloted by Alfred. Jon walks Damian to class, reminding him that his parents are both busy this weekend, and for that reason he will be spending the weekend at Wayne Manor. The two are interrupted by a friend of Jon’s, and go to their respective classes, where Damian is very clearly overqualified. At lunch, the boys reconvene after Jon plays some more sports with his friends, and tries to get Damian to join. Damian refuses, and Jon begins to get annoyed at Damian’s insistence on being unfriendly, but is cut off when Damian points out that they’re being watched. They search beneath the bleachers, and find themselves face to face with Talia al Ghul, Damian’s Mother!

Talia is at the boys’ school because she is dissatisfied with the way that Bruce has been raising Damian. Her son is a weapon, and that weapon must stay honed. She gives him an assassin uniform and demands that he put it on. She tells him that he won’t tell his father about it if he doesn’t want him to know about Damian’s secrets. Damian refuses to go on whatever mission Talia wants him to go on, and she leaves him with a sword that he smashes over his knee. Later that evening, the Super Sons interrogate a member of the League of Assassins in an attempt to find out who Talia is targeting. The man throws himself at Damian’s feet when he notices that he is the grandson of Ra’s Al Ghul. Jon has been growing more and more worried at the way the people from Damian’s past have been treating him, and this makes him wonder just how many people Damian has killed. He isn’t able to ask, as Damian finds Talia’s laptop with her target displayed on the screen: Lois Lane!

Thoughts on the issue:

A lot of this issue is just about Jon and Damian being friends at school, and it’s a lot of fun. Damian’s a surly overachiever, Jon is growing into an athlete with a crush on a whip-smart girl in his class, and the two of them continue to be entertaining friends to watch. When the new arc’s plot properly starts with Talia’s introduction, it informs you just how little Jon knows about Damian and the League of Assassins. It’s easy to forget that the protagonists in comics know so much less than the readers, but this story really is Jon’s introduction into the reality of Damian’s life and family. It will be very interesting to see how Jon copes with the answers he’s going to get if he keeps on questioning Damian.

"The Parent Trap" part one! Talia al Ghul returns for her son Damian, whom she trained from birth to be an assassin. With the evil in Robin's past finally revealed to Superboy, it might be too much for the Sons' partnership to survive...especially when the boys find out her next victim is one of the most important people in their lives!